Promises

Taking Old Testament Survey this semester has been SO good for me. For various reasons. One being that the Old Testament didn't seem as applicable in my life as the New Testament did. I definitely knew it was important, for sure, but I just felt like it was... Well, old. I have realized, though, that it IS applicable to my life. The book of Genesis especially reveals this.

Something I've come to realize fully is that all of the people in the book of Genesis messed up, a LOT. Even when God continually spoke to them and promised to be with them, they all failed; they would always act in unbelief. One in particular, Abraham, sticks out in my mind more than the others do. Even though he's known for his incredible faith (Gen. 15:6), he didn't start out that way. If you happen to look through Gen. 12-22... WOW. We're talking about some serious trust issues here! There are so many instances when he could've acted in faith, but didn't.

First of all, God spoke to Abraham personally, which should've strengthened his faith in Him like a billion times more. Not only did He speak to him, but God promised Abraham so many things, the most important things promised to him were land, protection, and overall blessing. He even told Abraham to go outside and count the stars in the sky, telling him that he was counting the number of his descendants. God even made a covenant with him.

Not even a few verses later begins a list of all the ways that Abraham screws things up. They left to go to another land (which says a lot about how much faith they lacked that God would provide in the midst of the famine), and Abraham lied to the Pharaoh of Egypt saying that Sarah was his sister (which was true, but it wasn't the whole truth). That right there revealed that he didn't trust God in providing protection for him, either. They got everything settled and then, they moved on. But this didn't just happened once; it happened AGAIN! You'd think they'd learn from their mistakes the first time...

Even though God promised them more descendants than they could possibly imagine, they took matters into their own hands with making Hagar become a surrogate mom. Even though God blessed Ishmael, the child born of unbelief, it was still Isaac that He blessed Abraham and his descendants through.

Finally, when Isaac was older, God told Abraham to sacrifice his only son. This had to have been the hardest test of faith! But after years and years of acting in unbelief and distrust, Abraham obeyed. He knew that God had promised Isaac, and he had faith that even if the blade of the knife went through the skin, that he would be healed or brought back to life. After so many years of not getting it, he FINALLY got it!

I can totally relate to Abraham; that's probably why he's my favorite character to read about in Genesis. In fact, I AM Abraham in a sense. I know God has made me so many promises AND kept them, and yet I still act like I don't trust Him a lot of the time. I think everyone's like this, but I can relate because I'm an especially stubborn fool. Thank goodness He's saved me and not because of anything I ever did. I have so many dreams for my life that I want desperately to make a reality. If they're part of God's plan for my life, then they WILL happen. But I have to remember that if they're not, then God's got something SO much better in mind for my life. Which is super hard to imagine and is easier said than done...

Something really cool to take from this story is that even though Abraham didn't always act in faith, that didn't stop God from being God, and it didn't stop Him from being the faithful El Shaddai. He ALWAYS keeps His end of the deal. That's always incredibly comforting to remember; even when I screw up or fail, God NEVER does. He always keeps His promises.

That's something to keep in the front of my mind as I go about my crazy life.